Just a Woman With a Really Weird Childhood...

As I read The Glass Castle this summer, I would often think of the woman Jeanette Walls has become today and the child she was growing up. They seemed to me, polar opposites. How could a woman with such an odd childhood and such eccentric parents grow up to be so NORMAL with a life many people dream of? This is the question I hoped to get answered when I went to watch her speak yesterday at Emens.

The audience was full of BSU freshmen, many of which didn’t even read the book, but also many who did and were probably just as anxious as me to see Jeanette. The speakers who introduced her said lots of nice and inspiring and boring things about how anyone has the ability to become an award winning author and blah blah… they didn’t have much impact on me other than me critiquing their public speaking skills, which weren’t bad. But it was when Jeanette walked out on stage that the audience really started paying attention. Of course, I was skeptical of her at first (it’s in my nature). I was looking for signs of acting and it even crossed my mind that maybe her story wasn’t even true. I kept thinking of the book A Million Little Pieces, and how the author turned out to be half fraud. But I couldn’t find anything within Jeanette’s intentions that wasn’t nervous and sincere, and very endearing.

Jeanette’s speech was particularly enjoyable to listen to because she related to the audience on many different levels. She made jokes about herself and her family, referenced stories from her book and stories of people whose lives her book has touched, and she never stopped smiling. She didn’t seem to be reciting a speech she had written and memorized, but rather her speech seemed free flowing and personal. That’s what made my skepticism go away. You could tell every time she told a story that it was personal and true.

Seeing Jeanette Walls speak as an experience I am glad to have been a part of because she emphasized an idea that I always try to keep a part of my own life, that everyone is good and has redeeming qualities. She is proof that someone can actually become successful without losing their sense of modesty and humility in a way that doesn’t have to bring them down. If they let it, it can actually strengthen them and make for a very interesting and fulfilling life.

One of the first things Jeanette said when she came out on stage was one that really seemed to stick with me for whatever reason. She said something along the lines of, “I’m not celebrity or a hero, I’m just a woman with a really weird childhood…”

Jeannette Walls: An Inspired Person

            Last night I went to see Jeannette Walls, author of “The Glass Castle,” this year’s Freshman Common Reader, speak. When I heard at orientation that we would be reading “The Glass Castle” I was more excited than I had been throughout the entire two-day orientation process. I was that much more excited to learn that Jeannette Walls herself would be coming to Ball State University to speak to us about her life and her book. I had previously read “The Glass Castle” as Summer reading for my high school Freshman English class and I fell in love with it. It amazed me that someone who grew up in such poor conditions could come out on top in such a big way. The book inspired me in many ways, coming from a background of living with a single mother who also happened to be an alcoholic. I was never as poor (or “po” as Walls said, “too poor to afford the o and r”) as Jeannette and her family, but it was still a depressing time in my life.

This book was easily one of the greatest assigned readings I have ever read. Going into Emens, all of the excitement came rushing back. I don’t know what I was expecting at that moment, but I know it was fulfilled. Jeannette Walls never once seemed as though she felt pity about her life, all the anecdotes she told were presented in a way that seemed upbeat and humorous. She even told one story about her alcoholic father where she was afraid of the “demon” under her bed. Her father told her to look the “demon” straight in the eyes and tell it she’s not afraid. She says how she took this advice from her father, from when she was five-years-old and frightened of what was lurking under the bed, and applied it to life as a whole. Never have I seen someone so positive about such negative times in their lives, who can look back and think about things their parents did that may seem atrocious to most but be able to accept the way they were. Jeannette Walls has been an inspiration to me since the first time I read her book four years ago, and she will continue to be an inspiration.

Jeannette Walls

Going into the lecture, I was expecting to hear from a boring author of this book I was forced to read over the summer. And believe me when I use the term "forced." I am not much of a book worm, so when I ended up picking up a book and reading it cover to cover, there had to be some sort of driving foce behind my action. The Jeannette Walls presentation was far more than what I had expected. Unlike any other lecture which would make me yawn, this particular one kept my interest consistently throughout the entire speech. Rather than a simple overview of the best seller, she chose to elaborate on memories she had written in the book, and give more insight behind each one. With each story she told, she chose to include motivational words. What I had taken away from the whole experience was more what I would have expected to take away from a motivational speaker. One thing she quoted from her mother, "Everything works itself out in the end; and if it's not all worked out, then it isn't the end yet," will stick with me for as long as I can hold on to it. When a speaker can make an impression such as this on an audience member, the speaker is utterly inspiring.

Diamond in the Rough

Taylor Rayne Gardner

Tess Evans

Eng 103

21 September 2011

If Jeannette Walls is what we here in America consider “less fortunate” I don’t know how anyone in the world can hope to achieve his or her “fortune.” She moved across the stage and eagerly shook the hand of the man who introduced her with a genuine smile on her face before taking her place center stage. Such clarity and honesty coming from such an interesting and diverse background still is intriguing. When she spoke she spoke with such a gentle but sincere voice, it was mesmerizing. When I had read the book the voice in my head was that of a rough, rugged girl, but there in front of me she spoke in such a manner that I could have believed she were talking directly to me. The entire time she spoke, when addressing questions asked by audience members she was so sincere and appreciative of every moment she was given and every face in the audience, it almost made me sad that I was going to return to the world of sarcastic remarks and selfish people.

She revisited some of her more memorable moments that were present in the book, but also many that weren’t. The thing that made her stories appealing even after we had read them was the way she told them. She told each story the way a teacher reads to a class of children, with a variety of voices for individual characters and big gestures to make the story more vivid in the imagination. Her gestures and entrancing voice weren’t the only things that made her so appealing to the audience, which to my surprise was much more than teens, also teachers and parents and older folks. She also had a witty sense of humor that people of all ages could appreciate. In between her stories and advice she was throwing out one-liners that had the whole theater laughing.

The audience was lost in her stories, teens in mid text message would lower their phones to lean in and listen. It was as though her voice was a hand reaching through the auditorium and touching each person in the place. As she spoke and her many inspirational messages washed over the room she crossed the stage engaging all parts of the auditorium. Each word she spoke carried some emotional value and she shared that value with all members of the audience.

Her speech though filled with colorful anecdotes and lighthearted jokes and witty comments also had three strong points that she was trying to send to the crowd. The first being that we all must face our demons, that is our fears, the second that we are all textured, scarred, and have stories some are just more easily hidden than others and finally that we should all create strong hopes and dreams and courage our youth to do the same. Her parting words as she left the stage “embrace your textures, face your demons, and build your own glass castles.”

journal 3 janett walls presentation

Spencer Teeter

ENG 103

September 21, 2011

Janett Walls Presentation

Tonight I went to see the author of the freshman connections reader The Glass Castle. At first I really didn’t want to go and the only reason I went was to get a journal done, but this presentation was not what I thought it would be. The presentation was lively and the author, Janett Walls, really drew in the audience with emotion and made us feel like a part of her stories. The approach Janett uses is pathos because she pulls in her readers and fans with emotional stories of her life.

During the presentation Walls told many of her personal life experiences with the audience going into a lot of detailed and emotional information. What surprised me the most was that she was very upbeat about all of her stories which were about poverty and how her family was homeless at times. Despite the sad mood given off by these stories Janett seemed to always have witty jokes about the situations and things she found funny or ironic. There was one story she told about her alcoholic father that I found particularly interesting. When she was young Janett was afraid of a monster under her bed. Most parents would tell their child that there is no such thing as monsters. This is not what happened. Janetts father immediately told her that they need to go out and hunt down this “demon”. So they proceeded to check the house for this “demon” which obviously they didn’t find. What Janett did not realize was that her father was teaching her to face her fears.

Despite her difficult past Janett has found the positive in all situations. Through her mentality she has become a stronger and successful person and now an award winning writer. She serves as an inspiration to all different types of people all over the world.

Class Log-September the Eighth

Taylor Gardner

Tess Evans

ENG 103

8 September 2011

Maybe there is something to be said for the anal students that leave twenty minutes early and set there watches five minutes ahead, they actually get to where they are going on time. I walked into class a little more than a few minutes late. I don’t really have a diehard policy for lateness, maybe if I did, I would be on time, but I find, either way, I get to where I am going and I get there just fine. That being said, when I got to our fabulous little English class, everyone was in there seats, and one seat was left open for little ol’ me.

Being the creatures of habit that we humans are, my first instinct was to sit in my usual seat due to the fact that every other student was in his or her usual seat, however, mine was occupied and I was forced to sit in an unfamiliar seat, seeing the world from an unfamiliar angle, working with, much to my dismay, unfamiliar people.

The class spent the majority of the period reading an article call “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” published to the Atlantic in July of 2008. The article, ironically, discussed how the Internet is decreasing the minds capacity and ability to process written materials, it took most of the class the period to read the article. After, finishing the article we split into groups with the people around us and got to work tearing apart Nicholas Carr and his ethos, logos and pathos. Poor guy, getting critiqued by college students, he doesn’t even know. The assignment is to be finished and presented to the class Tuesday, we will see.

"We Were Po'"

Journal 3

Ball State University was graced with the presence of Jeannette Walls this Thursday night. Although, Walls made it feel as if she was the one being blessed with an auditorium filled with freshman and faculty. Walls, the writer of the best-selling memoir, The Glass Castle, opened her lecture with an immediate statement about how great it felt to be wanted and welcomed at a university lecture hall.

My first impression of Walls as she started to speak was that she is the most humble lady in the world. Walls was quick to mention her appreciation for being at Ball State, but unlike most speakers, she stressed how grateful she was for an audience that wanted to hear what a weird lady like herself had to say.

Walls, fully aware that a majority of the audience consisted of freshman, used informal language like “knucklehead” and “S.O.B.” to appeal to the audience. Her hand gestures and enthusiasm in storytelling kept even the uneager students attentive.

Jeannette spoke of life lessons she learned and the stories in which she learned them from. First, Walls took a humorous approach to her life of poverty by saying, “We weren’t poor. We were po’. We couldn’t afford the rest of the word.” After a good laugh from the audience, she continued to speak of isolating shame and facing one’s fears.

Walls never once provoked sympathy from the audience; in fact, she embraced her stories of poverty with optimism. She kept a smile on her face the entire time and spoke approvingly of her underprivileged lifestyle. In her closing statement Walls said, “Embrace your stories, face your demons, and build your own glass castles.” She walked off stage not anticipating a standing ovation. She got one anyway.